Reproductive Health Supplies from UNFPA Arrive in Mosul

UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK — A shipment of much-needed reproductive health supplies and medications arrived last week in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The supplies, sent by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, included emergency obstetric care supplies, clean delivery equipment, contraceptives, essential drugs and other medical products. They also included equipment for blood transfusion and testing. The shipment is intended to serve a population of 400,000 people for a 3-month period.

The supplies were transported by UNICEF trucks departing from Syria and received in Mosul by representatives of Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders), one of UNFPA’s principal health partners in Iraq. MSF will distribute the supplies to hospitals, clinics and health care facilities inside the city and in the surrounding northern locations. UNFPA is in the process of securing more supplies for other parts of Iraq, including Baghdad.

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UNFPA, the world's largest multilateral source of population assistance, has been active in Iraq since 1972 (with brief interruption in the early 1990s), working to improve access to reproductive health and family planning services. As a result of its efforts, the number of primary health care facilities providing reproductive health services increased from 37 in 1995 to 146 in 2001.

Contact Information:

William A. Ryan
Tel.: +66 2 288 2446
Email: ryanw@unfpa.org

Omar Gharzeddine
Tel.: +1 (212) 297-5028
Email: gharzeddine@unfpa.org